Regulatory Reform and Competition: How to Push the Agenda Forward. A European Perspective

Abstract:     
In recent decades, Community institutions have promoted most of the pro-competitive reforms in continental Europe. Liberalizations originating at the national level were seldom successful because they were blocked by arguments based on often fictitious general interest considerations (stability, universal service, continuity of supply, consumer protection, employment, etc). In Italy, also as a result of competition advocacy by the antitrust Authority, the Government has recently liberalized a number of private service activities. Experience shows that the probability of competition-oriented reforms is greatly enhanced if law making is accompanied by a technical analysis of the objectives, necessity and proportionality of regulatory restrictions.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 18

Accepted Paper Series